


from wood to cinders

by starshipaurora



Series: soldier toys, bereft of life [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (In Space) - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Alexithymia, All the Mechs are Autistic, Autistic Cinders, Autistic Toy Soldier, Found Family, Gen, Pre-Mechanisms Toy Soldier, Toy Soldier-Typical 'Realness' Denial, autistic characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27443212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starshipaurora/pseuds/starshipaurora
Summary: “Hallo!” it says cheerfully, its elbow creaking as it waves. “Would you mind if I take a seat, miss?”She looks up, moving her cloak’s hood away from her face, and nods. Her smile is soft.“Splendid! Thank you kindly.” It sits down, straight as a rod, and starts twiddling its thumbs. That’s what you do when you’re relaxing, right?“What’s your name?” she asks. She’s fidgeting with her hands as well. There’s a golden ring on her hand, topped with a white gemstone.
Relationships: Cinders & The Toy Soldier, Cinders/Rose (Once Upon A Time In Space), Jonny d'Ville & Nastya Rasputina & The Toy Soldier
Series: soldier toys, bereft of life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162376
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	from wood to cinders

**Author's Note:**

> this was actually the first mechs fic i ever started and just kinda. cleaned it up a bit today. so this may or may not be in character or fit with canon but its Soft and has Toy Soldier Feelings, so enjoy i guess!

There aren’t many occasions for a Rose Red battalion to have some “free time,” as it were. Genetically engineered clones of an almost super-human don’t need a lot of rest and relaxation. Even if you’re not a  _ true  _ Rose Red, chances are, if you’ve survived long enough to catch a break, you don’t really need one anyway.

But Rose Red #300D-N likes to pretend it needs rest, sometimes. So it leaves the ship—parked in a remote area of the planet to prepare for a stealth mission—and wanders about until it finds a quaint little town. There’s banners and ribbons strung across poles, waving in the wind along with many citizens’ long hair. Rose Red #300D-N can’t grow long hair, but it finds that it might like to try a wig one day.

One day. When it’s not in the battalion anymore? When it leaves the army? When it stops fighting? ...Will it ever stop fighting? That was its purpose, after all. It was built for war.

Its shoes tap cleanly on the cobblestone and its arms swing in perfect rhythm, earning a few odd glances from the townsfolk.

Eventually, it comes across a marketplace of sorts, stalls encircling a group of tables and benches. There are even more decorations here, and the colors are... quite a lot to look at. It steps towards the back of the square to find a place to sit. Most of the benches are filled. Except for one.

“Hallo!” it says cheerfully, its elbow creaking as it waves. “Would you mind if I take a seat, miss?”

She looks up, moving her cloak’s hood away from her face, and nods. Her smile is soft.

“Splendid! Thank you kindly.” It sits down, straight as a rod, and starts twiddling its thumbs. That’s what you do when you’re relaxing, right?

“What’s your name?” she asks. She’s fidgeting with her hands as well. There’s a golden ring on her hand, topped with a white gemstone.

It opens its mouth, but pauses for a moment. Something its commander said before it left echoes in its mind.

_ Well, alright, if you’re gonna galavant about you might as well try to find us some information. Any strange or suspicious figures, or seedy businesses, report back to me. They might be covers for the rebellion. _

Perhaps it can pretend to be a spy for a while.

“I don’t think I have a name,” it says, which is truthful. “But you may call me the Toy Soldier. What’s yours?”

“Ci—” she stops. Sighs. “Ella. My name is Ella.”

“Lovely to meet you, Ella!” it replies, taking no notice of her stumble. “What brings you here on this wonderful day?”

Ella brushes her hair out of her face. She has dark skin, and her brown eyes are focused on the ground as she speaks. “I’m... looking for someone.”

“I can help, if you’d like!” it says, rocking back and forth a little.

“No, she’s not... I don’t think she’s here, on this planet.” She sighs again. “I thought she might be, but there’s no sign of her.”

“Oh. She was taken from you?”

The bench creaks as she turns to face it. There are subtle wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, as if her body should be younger, but it’s aged fast.

“Can I tell you a story I’ve never told anyone before?”

_ I grew up in a kingdom, very far away from here. I was a princess. As a little girl, I was always told to sit around and wait for my prince, so we could marry and continue my father’s legacy. But as I got older, I realized I didn’t want a prince. I didn’t want any men, to be precise. Women are far more attractive. _

She glances at it and blushes a little. It chuckles, and listens more.

_ The stars were always so fascinating to me. I visited the castle library and read every book on the subject that I possibly could. By the time I was a teenager, I’d memorized every planet and constellation for a lightyear around my home. But... then a war started. And long story short, I— Everything was lost. My planet burned. I was taken to prison. _

“Oh dear,” it says, hoping it sounds sympathetic. She pulls at one of her curls.

_ I found her there. My soulmate. We’re meant for each other, I truly believe it. Our very beings were forged from the same star, just like my— just like so many gems and crystals. She was scarred and dirty and everything a soldier was, but I loved her for it. My godmother, a dressmaker who’d escaped the army’s wrath, managed to get me out of the prison and... to her. _

_ We were going to get married. Eternally bound together, back to the star we were made from. But then, then— _

A sob escapes her and she buries her face in her hands. The Toy Soldier pats her back slowly, like it has no idea what it’s doing. Ella looks back up again.

_ The army attacked on our wedding day. They took her. They took her and killed everyone, except me, and I ran. I ran so far and so fast and I never thought to track their ships down until it was too late and they were gone. I ran without her and now she’s someplace out there, without me. It’s been years. But... I know the stars can’t hide her, and I’m going to search every last one until she’s in my arms again. _

“I’m sorry,” it says, for lack of things to say.

“It’s okay. I know I’ll find her soon.” Ella wipes the tears from her eyes. “You know, I’ve never told anyone else that story. I don’t know what’s making me tell it now.”

“Neither do I, miss.” It fidgets a bit. “Forgive me for asking, but why are you searching so long and so far?”

“Because I love her. And I’m going to find her.” Her fists clench.

“You... love her?”

“Yes.”

“Miss—”

“Just Ella. Please.”

“Ella. What does love... feel like?”

She looks up at it, searching its face. It remembers to blink to seem less creepy, like it’s been ordered before.

“Love is... it’s like knowing that no matter what, you’ll have each other,” she says slowly. “Even if— if the whole universe implodes, you’ll still have the people you love, and that’ll be just fine. And it’s sort of this... this feeling in your heart. I’ve read so many books, but none of them can ever describe what it’s like. A warmth? But not the temperature, warm as in...”

She flails her hands around in what the Toy Soldier suspects is supposed to illustrate her point, but it just looks like a blur of fingers. She chuckles.

“I don’t think I’m able to describe it. My apologies. It’s a very unique feeling, and I’m already bad at describing those.” She glances at it. “Have you ever felt love before?”

The Toy Soldier pauses. “I’m not certain. I don’t— I don’t have emotions, like you do. You’re Real, you see, and I’m just a Toy. I can only pretend to feel.”

Ella hums in thought. “You know what I think, Toy Soldier?”

“Yes?”

She stands up, adjusting her hood and extending a hand. She helps it stand, even though it doesn’t need the help.

Her smile is radiant, and her eyes sparkle in the sunlight.

“I think you’re as Real as anyone else I’ve ever met.”

If the Toy Soldier was electric, it thinks it would have short-circuited.

No one has ever told it that before.

“I— Ah, thank you, my dear, but I’m not sure—”

She takes its hands in her own. The Toy Soldier notes, distantly, that she doesn’t flinch away at the hard wood.

“Thank you for listening to my story,” she says quietly, and kisses its painted cheek.

A flutter of fabric, and she’s gone, blending in too well with the marketplace crowd.

\---

The Toy Soldier doesn’t realize who, exactly, it had met with that day, until it meets the Mechanisms.

It hears Nastya playing her violin and Jonny singing about a princess who ran on her wedding day when her bride was taken. It pokes its head into the room.

“Hallo, old beans!” it says, saluting them. Jonny rolls his eyes. “What are you singing about?”

Jonny snarks, “Nothing you can help with.”

Nastya slaps him on the arm. “We are working on an album about King Cole’s war. Jonny is trying to write about Cinders— a princess who would have married the original Rose, but Rose was taken on their wedding day.”

“I don’t have much to work off of,” Jonny says, leaning against the wall and swinging his microphone around by the wire. “We didn’t spend much time chatting with Cinders or Briar Rose before leaving.”

“Legends say that she had a ring that was supposed to glow when Rose was nearby, but if that is real or not, who knows.” Nastya shrugs.

The Toy Soldier bounces on its toes as a memory comes flooding back.

“I believe I may be able to help with that! I’ll have you know, I met Cinders, or Ella, as she called herself— anyhow, we sat down together and she told me her story!”

Jonny’s eyes widen as he slides to sit backwards in his chair, an awed smirk on his face. Nastya looks equally as shocked, before giving the Toy Soldier one of her rare smiles.

And the Toy Soldier thinks it might finally understand what Ella was trying to explain, all those years ago.


End file.
